This disclosure relates generally to improved medical care for patients who require enteral feeding. More particularly, it relates to an enteral feeding assembly having a novel locking assembly which permits a user or health care provider to close or lock and to open or unlock, access to a catheter of the enteral feeding assembly.
Numerous situations exist in which a body cavity needs to be catheterized to achieve a desired medical goal. One relatively common situation is to provide nutritional solutions or medicines directly into the stomach or intestines. A stoma is formed in the stomach or intestinal wall and a catheter is placed through the stoma. Feeding solutions can be injected through the catheter to provide nutrients directly to the stomach or intestines (known as enteral feeding). A variety of different catheters intended for enteral feeding have been developed over the years, including some having a “low profile” relative to the portion of the catheter which sits on a patient's skin, as well as those having the more traditional or non-low profile configuration. U.S. Pat. No. 6,019,746 provides an example of such a device.
As indicated above, there are a variety of instances in which it may be necessary to use a catheter, one of which is the not uncommon reaction following major surgery in which a patient's stomach function is impaired for a period of time. In addition to the need to supply or supplement the body with a certain level of nutrients and the like following surgery as well as in other instances of impaired or limited gastric functionality, a further issue is that an unfed gut can become a source of bacteria that gets into the bloodstream. These types of problems may be resolved by the introduction of nutrients through an enteral feeding device tube properly inserted through the patient's abdominal wall, gastric wall, pylorus, duodenum, and/or into the jejunum beyond the Ligament of Treitz.
A problem universal to low profile and non-low profile enteral feeding devices or enteral feeding assemblies is the difficulty in connecting and disconnecting the feeding tube to and from the base assembly. Many prior art enteral feeding base assemblies “EFA”, such as the one shown, for example, in cross-section in FIG. 1, have a low profile base B and a catheter C which extends through the base and a distance from the base. A distal end of the catheter of such a device/assembly often includes a balloon which may be expanded to hold the catheter in a position in a body lumen, such as a stomach lumen. Such an enteral feeding device/assembly also often has a plug “P” attached to the low profile or non-low profile device by a tether “T.”
Changing a feeding tube involves disconnecting the prior tube, or removing the plug P from the base, and connecting a new tube in its place. This can be a surprisingly difficult exercise, especially if the patient is overweight, which can limit the visibility of the base from the patient himself, or young, since it is often necessary or desirable to change the assembly while the patient is sleeping. The turning on of a light during the night can wake the patient. Yet, without being sure that the new tube is correctly connected, there is a risk of the leaking of gastric contents onto a patient's skin surface, clothing, and so forth. There is also a similar risk of the leaking of the feeding solution. Further, when the connector sits tightly within the base, it may be difficult to remove, thereby requiring extensive pulling, movement of the connector and base and even unwanted displacement of the base.
Accordingly, there is a need for an enteral feeding assembly and connector which permits a user or health care provider a way to easily change the enteral feeding tube. Such a system would permit a user or health care provider to easily and reliably disconnect the previous, used, feeding connector and connect a new feeding connector, desirably without needing to see the base.